Bhagwad Gita - Post 138

Chapter XII - The Yoga of devotion

Brief introduction

Arjuna asks: “Are You the Supreme Person? Sometimes You refer to Yourself as Parama-purusha—Supreme Person. 

Sometimes You say that You are indestructible, transcendent, and impossible even to conceive. In what way are we to worship You, O Lord? There are people who adore You as the Supreme Mahapurusha, Purushottama. 

With immense devotion they sing of You, they dance in ecstasy by taking Your name, they adore You day in and day out, and glorify You in all ways. 

There are others who are unified in their being with Your indestructible Super Being. Between these two great souls, whom do You regard as the best of yogins?”

Krishna replies, “I consider those people very near to Me and really united with Me whose mind is fixed on Me, who worship Me ever considering Me as their highest beloved, who have faith in Me only, and center their faith in nothing else. 

I certainly consider them as united with Me because their mind is wholly centered in Me in their utter devotion. But there are others who are united with Me in a different way.” 

The distinction drawn here is between those devotees who worship the Supreme Being as the Parama Purushottama and those who are devoted to the Universal Inclusiveness, outside which even they do not exist. 

We may call these two ways of approach as bhakti and jnana, if we like; but the jnana referred to here is actually a kind of bhakti in the highest sense. It is called para bhakti, which is the same as jnana.

The Lord goes on to describe the qualities that a true devotee possesses. He neither attaches himself to anything nor does he have any aversion to things. 

He has a balanced mind under all circumstances. He is not agitated by the happenings of the world, nor does he himself cause any agitation in others. 

He is perfectly desire less and rejoices in the Lord within. He sees equality everywhere, being untouched by sorrow, fear, honor as also dishonor. He is perfectly content as he has surrendered his entire being to the Lord.

The path of devotion communicated during the conversation between Sri Arjuna and Lord Krishna is highlighted by providing answer to the following key questions:

1.    Should One Worship a Personal or an Impersonal God?

2.  What are the four Paths to God Realization explained in this chapter?

3.  Why Karma-Yoga is recommended to be the Best Starting Point for God Realization?

4.  What are the Key Attributes of a true devotee?

5.   Finally, why One Should Sincerely Strive to develop Divine Qualities?

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 137

Verse 54

Bhaktyaa twananyayaa shakyam

Aham evamvidho’rjuna;

Jnaatum drashtum cha tattwena

Praveshtum cha parantapa.

But by single-minded devotion can I, of this form, be known and seen in reality and also entered into, O Arjuna!

Word ‘ananya’ comes many a time in the Bhagwad Gita. 

We are all devotees of God in some way; but are we ananya? Ananya means undivided, non-separate, non-externalized, whole-souled love. 

Now, many of us may not be able to entertain such a thing. We have loves of different types which are connected to this world and, therefore, these devotions are secondary in their nature. 

Because our devotions are more ritualistic in their nature, externalized in their nature, we express our devotion in some form outside.

Most of our affections are psychological. We use only our mind in thinking of God, and even in loving God. 

The soul, the spirit, does not always come up. We are temporarily possessed by certain emotions, but these emotions are not devotion. 

We may be intensely stimulated for some time when we hear charming, stirring, devotional music, or when stimulating sankirtan is going on in a group. Yet the pulls of the earth, which limit this devotion that has temporarily taken possession of us through emotion, will manifest themselves after the satsangh is over, and we will be the same so-and-so. It would not have made much difference in our practical daily life. 

However, in Ananya Bhakti, when the soul rises into action, the mind and the body cannot stand it. In deep sleep we are possessed by our soul, and so we are immensely calm, quiet and happy. In the state of deep sleep, there is a subdual of all distraction for the time being. 

There are three processes: knowing, implementing, and materializing the love of God. 

First of all it is a vision and a knowledge—ñātuṁ draṣṭuṁ. To know and to visualize, to see and to understand, has been bequeathed to Arjuna. He understood because of the explanation given by the Lord Himself as to what it is. He saw it, but he did not enter into it. He was standing outside it, as it were. He was looking at it. 

But it has to be borne in mind that the fulfilment of God-consciousness, or God-realization, consists not merely in having the vision of God or knowing Him in a special characterization as described here. We have to merge ourselves into it. The Atman becomes Brahman. The soul enters into the Maker of all things. 

“This devotion, which is the supreme means of knowing Me, will enable one to know Me, to visualize Me, and finally to enter into Me, which is the salvation of the soul.”

Verse 55

Matkarmakrinmatparamo

Madbhaktah sangavarjitah;

Nirvairah sarvabhooteshu yah

Sa maameti paandava.

He who does all actions for Me, who looks upon Me as the Supreme, who is devoted to Me, who is free from attachment, who bears enmity towards no creature, he comes to Me, O Arjuna!

 “O Arjuna! Such a person will reach Me who performs all action and duty for My sake—matkarmakṛin;

who regards Me as supreme above all things anywhere—matparamo;

who is intensely devoted to Me throughout the day and night for all time—madbhaktaḥ;

who is not attached to anything and is free from contamination by anything in the world—saṅgavarjitaḥ; 

who has no enmity with anybody and doesn’t hate anyone, and no one is an enemy of that person—nirvairaḥ sarvabhūteṣu: no living being is antagonistic to that person and he is not antagonistic to any living being. Such a person reaches Me.”

The lowest pedestal on which the soul was standing was the condition in which Arjuna found himself in the battlefield — everywhere fear, everywhere animosity, everywhere uncertainty, everywhere suspicion and agony, and everywhere strife and conflict. 

Kaliyuga manifested itself in full force in that picturization of the Mahabharata battle. No one loved another. Everyone hated the other. From that samsaric mire of intense antagonism, conflict and fear, the soul had to be taken gradually, stage by stage. 

I am seeing You here in front of me. You said You are manifest in various excellences, as You have mentioned to me earlier. Which way of contemplating You would You regard as better, or superior? Should I try to contemplate You as the indeterminate, infinite, transcendent, Absolute Brahman? Or, may I adore You as a manifest Bhagavan Sri Krishna or any of the forms that You have taken in these excellences? With form or without form—which way is the better one for me to contemplate You?” 

Next chapter starts with the above doubt raised by Arjuna and Sri Krishna answers and clears the doubt in the 12^th chapter.

Love.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 136

Verse 48

Na vedayajnaadhyayanairna daanair

Na cha kriyaabhirna tapobhirugraih;

Evam roopah shakya aham nriloke

Drashtum twadanyena karupraveera.

Neither by the study of the Vedas and sacrifices, nor by gifts, nor by rituals, nor by severe austerities, can I be seen in this form in the world of men by any other than thyself, O great hero of the Kurus (Arjuna)!

“This form, this Viratsvarupa, this Universal Spirit, in which form you have beheld Me — this cannot be beheld by any kind of ritual, by study of the Vedas, by teaching, by charity,

by ritualistic performances, by tapas or austerity of any kind. Whatever be the intensity and ferocity of that tapas, nothing of the kind can touch Me.”

In most cases, we see people ardently take up different techniques of worship, penance, study and so on, but tend to get so attached to those techniques that they lose sight of the real goal which is liberation. They go so far as to claim the efficacy of one technique versus the other.

Human action cannot touch Eternity, because all action is in the process of time. All action is in space and in time. This Eternal terror which was beheld by Arjuna is not in space, not in time. Therefore, our studies of the Vedas, our tapasyas, our charities, our philanthropies, our deeds — whatever their merit, they are, after all, like performances in the dream world.

When we wake up, the merits of all our good deeds in dream disappear. Similarly, in the quality of the perception of the Supreme Being, actions of the human being in the world of space and time bear no relevance. No action which is conditioned by time can take us to the Unconditioned Reality, which is not in time.

Explaining why Arjuna deserves a special congratulation for having gained this extra-ordinary experience, the Lord says that none can 'SEE' this Universal-Form merely because of one's study of the Vedas, or on the strength of one's sacrifices. Nor can one gain it by the merits gained through the distribution of  gifts, or through performing rituals, or even through constant practice of severe austerities. 

These are, no doubt, necessary and always helpful in preparing the seeker to realize the essential unity beneath the perceived plurality, but neither a mere book-study, nor empty ritualism, nor physical tapas in themselves will, as an effect of them, bring about this understanding and the Final Experience. It can come only when the mind is steady. This "Vision" can be illumined only in the clear light of an integrated 'in-turned intellect.'

In thus making light of the study of the Vedas, performance of sacrifices, distribution of gifts, practice of rituals and a life of grim penance, Lord Krishna should not be misunderstood as ridiculing these great prescriptions of the Vedas. He merely means to say that although these are means, preparatory to the final end, they are not to be confused with the goal. 

Katha Upanishad says,

“The Imperishable, Eternal Reality cannot be contacted through the instrumentality of perishable deeds.”

Actions, deeds that we perform in this world have a beginning and an end. They are not eternal. How could we have the vision of that Eternal, contact with the Eternal or attain realization of that Eternal, which is timeless, when the instruments that we are using for that purpose are in time?

Dear All,

This is in perfect sync with what was explained in last week satsangh with respect to upasana, taking the reference of a verse from Kenopanishad which says:

“That by which the eyes / ears / prana / mind / intellect are able to function, know THAT to be the real essence, not the one which you have been worshipping otherwise.”

Explaining this drastic declaration by shrutis, he said, Upasanas, ritual worships etc. are by themselves very important in the sense, they prepare us for evolving, channelizing our higher intellect to the ultimate Goal of Self-realization. 

The sadhaka must not start and end his life in Glorifying the Rama nama, roopa but he must start and proceed in his spiritual journey from Nama and Roopa of his chosen God to ultimately experience the Essence, i.e., The Tattwa of that God, within the cave of his heart.

Love.